Editor’s Corner: More Idioms!

Good morning!

A couple of weeks ago I shared a list of common English idioms with you, and in return, I asked you to share your favorite idioms, English or otherwise, with me. Thanks to everyone who submitted—and thanks for providing the translations for the non-English idioms. (I did not investigate these translations to make sure the submitters got them right. If you can’t trust an Editor’s Corner reader, who the heck can you trust?) Here are all the idioms I received that are fit to print. J

Idiom in English

Translation

Language of Origin

Explanation

Costs an eye of the face

Cuesta un ojo de la cara

Spanish

Very expensive

Even monkeys may fall from trees

원숭이도 나무에서 떨어진다

Korean

Even experts make mistakes

Finer than a frog hair split four ways

English/USA, southern states

Outstanding!

I should cocoa

English/UK

I should think so (often sarcastic)

Knee-high to a grasshopper

English/USA, southern states

Most often used to refer to size or growth: “You were just knee-high to a grasshopper.”

Long in the tooth

English

Old; used up; past its prime

Madder than a wet hen

English/USA, southern states

Very angry

Nip in the bud

English

Prevent a small problem from getting worse

Oh, my giddy aunt!

English/UK

An exclamation of surprise

Pull your socks up

English/UK

Improve your behavior or work; get on with it

Push the envelope

English

To expand the definition, categorization, dimensions, or perimeters of something

Rat road

Jalan tikus

Indonesian

Short cut

Take the mickey

English/UK

Tease

With bells on

English

Dressed up; ready to go; eager

Worth its weight in gold

English

Highly valued; extremely useful

You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear

English/USA, southern states

You can dress it up, but you can’t improve the quality (often used to describe a person)